A day of goodbyes for Hamilton and Fox Sports Houston

Wednesday was a day for goodbyes and glimpses of the future as the Astros’ radio and television and broadcast crews signed off for the last time this season.

For pregame and postgame host Greg Lucas, play by play announcer Bill Brown and analyst Jim Deshaies, it was the final Astros game on Fox Sports Houston, ending the ballclub’s 30-year relationship with the network that launched in January 1983 as Home Sports Entertainment. Astros and Rockets games will move to Comcast SportsNet Houston, beginning with the Rockets this season and the Astros in 2013.

On radio, it was the final broadcast of the year for announcers Brett Dolan and Dave Raymond, who are completing their seventh year with the franchise, and the final day of Milo Hamilton’s tenure as a full-time Astros employee.

Deshaies, who is expected back next season, and Brown, who said last month on his 65th birthday that he wants to take time to consider what he would like to do next season, reminisced throughout the broadcast but left the last words on the history of HSE/Prime Sports/FS Houston to Lucas, who did play by play on HSE’s first game broadcast, a Celtics-Rockets game on Jan. 4, 1983.

Lucas said FS Southwest will continue in the same channel slot as FS Houston and “it will still be a great network.”

“But the sadness for most of us who have been with this network since it began is that the Astros and Rockets are moving on,” he said. “They’re moving to a new place, and ultimately it will be a very good place once the affiliate agreements are signed. I remember when Fox Sports signed on as HSE, we hardly had any viewers at all. But it grew.”

Lucas will not continue with Fox Sports Southwest, and it is uncertain if he will join CSN Houston. He noted that Bill Worrell, HSE’s first anchor, has moved on to CSN Houston “and hopefully some of the rest of us will as well.”

His closing remarks: “Fans, you’ll be OK. There will be a lot of games available for you on two networks, and that’s probably a good thing. Competition always is, isn’t it? Until next spring, though, when the Astros return to a new network, and we hope the Astros will bring a new, improved ballclub into the American League, this is Greg Lucas from the field for the last time speaking on this one. … We’re over and out with the Astros. Thank you all.”

On radio, Dolan and Raymond reflected on the 2012 season and the year to come and then let Hamilton, broadcasting from Gallery Furniture in north Houston, conclude the broadcast.

“We’re going to look forward to next year – the American League, new colors, new uniforms, a new manager and everything that comes with that,” Dolan said.

“I’ve enjoyed watching this team transform before our eyes,” Raymond said. “It has not resulted in a lot of wins, but I guess I would sum it up with one word: ‘Onward.’”

Hamilton also sounded a hopeful note for fans.

“I look to the future with this club like I did in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s when all those kids (led by Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio) came along together,” Hamilton said. “We’ve got the same promise in front of us now. … I see light at the end of the tunnel for this ballclub that is coming on.”

During his 15-minute closing segment, Hamilton, 85, combined numbers – he has broadcast since 1953 for 12 Major League Baseball ownership groups and seven teams that employed 27 managers and 21 general managers – with memories of his career and his family. He noted that his new contract with the Astros to work as an adviser and goodwill ambassador with occasional stints in the booth begins today and said, “There are things to do and things to look forward to.”

He had one moment of emotion when he said, “The memories, the memories, it comes around too soon,” but closed with words of thanks and gratitude.

“I’ve had a full, full life, and I couldn’t ask for any more,” he said. “I love this game. I love you fans. And, for now, I’m not saying goodbye, just so long for a little while on the Astros radio network.”

And so it ends. It’s been a year of nostalgia for the Astros’ 51-season tenure in the National League, and it’s been a year of nostalgia on the airwaves as well with Hamilton’s final year in the booth, questions about the future direction of Astros radio and, on TV, the end of the historic association between the Houston teams and the regional sports network that helped launch the RSN boom in 1983 and whose executives, led by Dick Barron (no relation), Jack Stanfield, Ed Frazier, Jon Heidtke and others, took the concept around the country and around the world.

Sports fans around the country, let alone Houston, owe them a debt of gratitude.

And now, we move on to the nitty-gritty of the future: announcer lineups and carriage negotiations. It should be a very, very interesting few weeks leading up to the Rockets’ Nov. 10 regular-season opener and the Astros’ off-season TV discussions.

Some emotional times for us long time Astros fans. I’ve never been a big fan of Lucas but his closing statement was perfect, fine job Mr. Lucas. I, like so many others, pray Brownie and J.D. stay. We have been blessed with media professionals, Dierker, Ashby, Fowler, Justice, the list is very long. Yes, all of this change is painful. More painful perhaps for us longtime fans who have so many memories, but maybe we find it so painful because our personal lifes are changing so quickly as we become more “seasoned”. Onward, indeed!!